A Eulogy for Simon
by celestial-sonneteer
Summary: After Simon's death, Jack needs to find a way to justify it for himself and his tribe. What can he do to make murder seem like the right thing to have done?  One-Shot


**A/N: Okay, I know that I haven't written in a while, but that story is on my profile. In English class we are reading LOTF. I had an assignment to write a eulogy in a character's POV for Simon. So, I decided to use this one! It's a bit of a different approach and most definitely not the norm, but who ever said that I was normal? Anyway, enjoy!**

A Eulogy for Simon

The boy stood up in front of the smoldering remains of the fire. His hands were stained with fresh war paint with which he had just smeared over his face. He took a glance over his camp: boys hollering at each other, throwing things and running around. Some were eating the last pieces of meat from last night's feast. He turned back to the fire, crouching down towards the ashes to warm his hands. Last night. He shuddered and got closer to the fire as he reflected upon the memory. They had killed Simon. He knew that he helped, but he couldn't call himself a murderer. He needed to justify the killing. Make it seem like it was the right thing to do.

The cinders crackled and flashed an orange much brighter than that of the sky. He then knew what he was going to do. He turned and got up, striding towards a boy in a muddy cap.

"Round 'em up," he snarled at the boy in the cap. The boy nodded fearfully and ran off.

"Chief's callin' a meeting!" The boy in the cap yelled. Jack squinted out at everyone running to him, fearful to disobey his whim. Less than five minutes later, everyone there was standing in front of him, waiting for him to speak. He scowled at the group and began.

"As you all know, we had a feast last night. We killed that pig and put its head on a spear as an offering to the beast so it would leave us alone. Our sacrifice wasn't enough because the beast came to our tribe looking for us!" A smaller boy whimpered and was told to shut up by some boys around him. "The beast looked like Simon," Jack said. "Many of you noticed that, and yeah, it's true. It's because the beast is a shape shifter!" Many of the boys started to whisper and shot scared looks at one another. "It can change shape to look like different things. It'll try to scare us and get in to our tribe to hurt us. But I'm not going to let that happen." The boys cheered but were quickly quieted by Jack's menacing looks.

"The beast basically took over Simon by taking his shape. Do you want to know why the beast took Simon over? It's because he's weak! He faints all the time and that's when the beast snuck up on him. He's a stupid one, too." A few of the boys that were in the choir before they crashed on the island chuckled. "We went exploring on the first day that we got here. And we saw this bush that was green, waxy, and weird smelling. He called it a candle bush, that stupid boy. Bushes aren't made of candles!" A few littluns laughed. "He kept disappearing too. He went into the woods alone. That must have been it," Jack whispered. He quickly decided how he was going to do this. "The beast snuck up on him and took 'im over when he went and fainted in the woods!

"The other boys are weak, too. Ralph, Samneric, and that fat pig have been bringing the beast towards us. Their weakness and stupidity are what separates them from us. We're warriors!" Whoops, hollers, and yelling stopped Jack from speaking for a minute before another menacing look shut the boys up. "And we're smart enough not to go wandering into the woods without a spear. That's why we made our own tribe. I knew that they weren't safe to be around." A grunt of approval came from one of the boys. "I'm protecting you from them and from the beast! They were ignorant of the beast. They said that it didn't exist when it really does! The beast is here on this island but they are too stupid to even understand that. They _saw_ the beast come down from the mountain! They watched us kill the body that the beast had taken over. They just don't accept that the beast was alive then and still is alive now!

"Here's what we're going to do now, hunters. We're going to go and get the fire by taking the fat pig's glasses." Some of the older boys smiled cunningly. They obviously enjoyed seeing the pig upset. "Try to hurt all of them if you can. Hopefully, they'll be gone soon. If there isn't anyone for the beast to turn into, then we'll be able to finally get rid of the beast by killing him for the last time!" Cheers erupted from the group, but Jack went on. His voice increased in volume and passion as he continued. "We need to get rid of the other kids so we can make the beast less powerful. It's our only chance of survival and we are going to take it! Only then can we be safe!"

Screams and shrieks of happiness and approval met Jack's ears as he finished his speech. Jack smiled an evil, conniving grin as he spread the war paint around every spot of clean flesh left. The fire went out.

**So, tell me what you think! Thanks for your time!**

**- Emily**


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